Join us at NSW Aboriginal Languages Festival

 

Celebrate Languages, Culture and Community!

The NSW Aboriginal Languages Festival 2025 was held on Sunday, 19 October 2025, at Carriageworks, Sydney. The festival featured a variety of activities, including music and dance performances, Language lessons, and children's activities. Popular Aboriginal hip-hop artist Kobie Dee headlined the event, with performances from the Mudjingaal Yangamba Choir, Eric Avery Marrawuy, Cianna Walker, Jayden Kitchener-Waters, Uncle Roger Knox, Loren Ryan, and poetry readings by Luke Patterson, Nicole Smede, and Lorna Munro. Dance performances were provided by the Gamay Dancers, Brolga Dance Academy, and Gadhungal Marring.

Language learning sessions covered Gamilaraay, Wiradjuri, Gumbaynggirr, and Gammēya-Dharawal Languages, among others. The forum space hosted youth delegates and a panel discussion on the UN International Decade of Indigenous Languages based on the NSW IDIL Strategy report. The children's learning space offered hands-on Language activities and lessons in Yunaalaraay, Murrawarri, Djiringanj, Wiradjuri, Dharawal, and a weaving workshop. The elders' space provided lunch and Language activities throughout the day.

The festival marked the beginning of the third annual NSW Aboriginal Languages Week, which ran from 19-26 October 2025. This week-long celebration commemorates the passing of the Aboriginal Languages Act on 24 October 2017 and aims to raise awareness of community-led efforts to revitalise Aboriginal languages. Communities across the state highlighted their Language revitalisation through events and activities. Ambassadors Cody Walker (Bundjalung/Yuin), an NRL star, and Brooke Boney (Gamilaroi), a journalist, played significant roles in showcasing Aboriginal Languages and Culture through a YouTube series and ALT social media.